Kingston's Portsmouth Olympic Harbour marina is located in the Portsmouth Village area of Kingston. This facility was built to host the yachting events of the 1976 Olympics. It is owned and operated by the City of Kingston. There are currently 259 slips in operation here.

September 7 2010

It's good to see the City and KEDCO finally pulling together for regattas and sorely-needed regatta-related improvements to our aging (crumbling?) marina infrastructure.

Also interesting is the 21-page ISAF Guidelines for the 2014 Worlds. Read the whole thing; it involves very significant on-water assets, concessions to ISAF micro-management, and deference to an expensive IOC-style "V.I.P." culture. Almost all of this excess is supposedly on the host committee's tab.

Do all aspects or European-style sport-federation dictates fly here in North America, specifically here in Kingston? Certainly not.

These time-sensitive reports go before Council for approval on Tuesday evening. Any delay means Kingston misses deadlines to bid. The last-minute nature of this is almost entirely due to the ISAF, who recently decided to hold the event in 2014, not 2015 as originally expected.

January 26 2010

Marsha Gormley was happy to hear that her husband Russell "Bud" Gormley had been inducted into the Hall of Fame. She just wished that he could have been there to enjoy the honour.

Indeed. This honour is probably 20-years overdue.

Bud Gormley is remembered as a pioneer of the Canadian Olympic Regatta Kingston (CORK). During the 1976 Olympic Games, Gormley was known as the unofficial mayor of the Olympic Village at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour. He was a key organizer of many other international sailing events in Kingston. Later in his life, Gormley carried out several humanitarian missions in the Dominican Republic.

July 16 2009

The event starts with three days of racing for the Youth and Women’s Championship followed by five days of racing for the Open Championship.

Competitors from six countries and eleven US states will take part in the event. The entry list includes five former Olympians and four past Hobie 16 North American Champions. The defending champions from Puerto Rico, Francisco Figueroa and Jolliam Berrios, will be defending their title.

THAT the recommendation for the relocation of the Coast Guard at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour be exempted from
the above clauses, and that it be referred back to staff for review and reconsideration in light of the community
concerns raised within correspondence and through a delegation to the Committee on behalf of the Portsmouth
Villagers Community Association.

March 10 2009

It sits on the southeastern edge of Portsmouth Olympic Harbour on land formerly controlled by Corrections Canada. It was opened in June 2008.

The point is also known as Hatters Bay Park

The recently released consultant's report, titled Kingston Marinas Sustainability and Development Strategy and Business Plan says this about the the Coast Guard building that sits on the Western edge of the POH property.

Current Coast Guard building inadequate for their needs considering relocation to east side of harbour at Hadders (sic) Bay Park.

Recommendation POH7 : Collaborate with the Coast Guard to develop and implement a plan for
relocating and enlarging their land-based facilities and berth, while relocating
Hatters Bay Park to current Coast Guard location at southwest corner of site.

Financial Implications: Minimal or no cost to City of Kingston.

Timing: Q4 2008- Q2 2009 (sic)

Understandably, clobbering a beautiful waterfront park and moving it to a concrete-surrounded petrol-station-sign-dominated place in the shadow of tall condo buildings has folks in Portsmouth Village a little disturbed.

But more to the point, according to the consultant, all this is supposed to happen at minimal or no cost to City of Kingston.

Build a new house-sized structure, and running services to it,

build a parking lot at the new structure,

build substantial new berths for coast guard vessels on the East-side of POH,

pave and perpetually clear and maintain the road to the new structure,

demolish a smaller but still house-sized structure, and rip-up the extisting Coast Guard area and turn that into a "park".

Right!

It's a really stupid idea on so many levels. Still, it's out-there, floating-around as someone's bright idea for our waterfront.

Nevermind that there's no other publicly accessible waterfront between there and Breakwater Park, a full 1.2 kilometers to the east, as the crow flies.

January 29 2008

A Public Information Centre will be held at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Press Lounge from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 30, 2008, to allow the public to meet the project team, discuss the study objectives and to receive comments and input.

November 18 2007

There are several very interesting attachments to the report. Among them:

Simulation of Wake Effect Distances which includes the positioning of our traditional regatta circles. It'll be interesting to see the racing effect on wind in the boat channel, South of Simcoe Island. Before the wind project, given the tactical choice, this was typically the preferred route in and out of the harbour.

The sailing events were held way out in Lake Ontario, southwest of Simcoe Island. The racing area was a full 5-miles from P.O.H., and Course Charlie, used for Tornado class catamarans, was another 5-miles beyond that.

The racing area was bounded by 52 orange spar buoys.

Within the racing area, near its southern edge, there was something called Bedford Tower which isn't there anymore. Whatever it was, there was a 300m exclusion zone around it.

Note the detailed bathymetry of Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, and the layout of the site for the Olympic event.

Also see how, prior to the 1984 expansion of Confederation Basin, Kingston Harbour was dotted with many spar buoys leading to the Lasalle Causeway along Carruthers Shoal. Old-time dinghy sailors will remember these well, as they served as ideal boathandling practice marks.

Thanks to David Page, KYC archivist, who supplied the chart used to create these digital versions.

"Partnering opportunity with the municipality in the provision of capital investment in marina infrastructure and delivery of marinas operations and marketing services"

Read the whole thing.

[Updated]: Click
here
to view the July 25th 2006 City of Kingston website announcement of the matter. Click here to see the interesting and detailed documents submitted to Council to approve this move in late March, 2006.

Various questions arise from all this:

Why hasn't this document been widely circulated? It was advertised once in Kingston This Week. Pick-up only from the Midland St office. It was never publicly posted online by the City. Was a notice of this forwarded to, say, the Ontario Marina Operators Association? Were players from the wider marina industry approached? Why such a short leash?

What is the linkage between this RFI and the Request For Proposals, which apparently would soon follow? Why the rush? The RFI packs onerous production requirements into a short time, and reserves all rights to plans and intellectual property conveyed by respondents. The period for questions, for example, has already expired, just three weeks into this.

What's in place to protect taxpayers, protect access for boating residents and events, and for equitable treatment for other local waterfront-related interests, both commercial and public?

April 10 2006

Over at Collins Bay Marina they're already launching boats. "This is the earliest we have ever started the season!" says Hub Steenbakkers, owner of Collins Bay Marina. "It is starting off to be a great season!".

March 21 2006

At issue before Council tonight, the City of Kingston proposes to rent an office at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour to Clifts Marine Sales of Toronto whose homepage already touts this as a done deal. Note the rent. We're guessing this is the thin edge of the wedge, and it's only a matter of time before they start renting docks and using POH as a major sales centre.

The City of Kingston has received a grant from the Government of Canada to refurbish Portsmouth Olympic Harbour which will include fixing-up the existing ramps, adding new ramps, and refurbishing docks.

This is an important topic for the Kingston , Ontario waterfront. Currently, this article is incomplete, and it would be cool to expand it. If you know anything about Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, please consider editing the topic and sharing your knowledge.